Rivermen Recap February 1st

The Langley Rivermen returned home this past Saturday for the first time since January 10th to take on the Chilliwack Chiefs, winning in overtime 5-4 in a thriller.

It was a back and forth, physical first 10 minutes of the first period at the George Preston Arena, with both teams’ generating numerous opportunities and Chilliwack even hitting a post just before the midway point of the period.

Mateo Mrsic was able to get the visitors on the board at the 12:21 mark of the first period on a shot from the slot, and tacked on another with 32 seconds remaining in the opening frame to put his team up by two going into the second period.

Chilliwack grabbed a pair early in the second period 2:54 apart to lead 4-0 with 7:47 gone in the middle frame.

Langley answered back 1:56 after the fourth Chilliwack goal, as Keenan Ingram fluttered a puck over the shoulder of Chiefs goaltender Sebastian Gatto. It was Ingram’s first BCHL goal in his first BCHL game, he signed this week from the SJHL’s Yorkton Terriers.

With 1:20 remaining in the second period, Jackson Krill tipped in an Ilya Rogovsky shot to make it a two-goal game going to the third period.

Shane Purves fed Sid McNeill with a beautiful pass 1:25 into the third period and McNeill made no mistake putting the puck five hole on Gatto for his 5th of the season, and more importantly making it a one goal game.

Four minutes and 56 seconds later, Rogovsky one timed a pass from Liam Doyle into the Chiefs net for his 11th goal of the season, tying the game at 4-4.

Langley had some chances late in the third to win the game, but Gatto stood on his head to force overtime.

Dalton MacGillivray was all over the ice on Saturday night in his 100th career BCHL regular season game, and played provider on the Rivermen overtime winner.

The third year BCHL veteran broke down the right wing inside the Chilliwack zone on a 2 on 1 break, and played a pass across to Ingram who scored his second of the night to win it 5-4 for Langley in front of a sold out crowd.

The Rivermen are back in action on Tuesday for their annual school day game against the Coquitlam Express, a special 12pm puck drop.